THE NATION: Milestone of Democracy

At the halfway mark, with the second of four rounds completed, the Kennedy-Nixon
TV debate had already carved its place in the annals of U.S. politics. On the same
date 102 years before, a crowd of 20,000 witnessed the historic Lincoln-Douglas debate
in Galesburg, Ill. Some 64 million people witnessed Round No. 2 of the
Kennedy-Nixon debatemore than the number of citizens who voted in the
presidential election of 1956.

The continuing TV debate adds a new-sophistication to the concept of
government by the people. The ingenuity of the TV industry in fitting...